Using AI for Your Career: A Practical Rutgers Guide

Date

October 16, 2026

At a Glance

Start Small: Choose a Rutgers-supported tool and one career task that matters to you.
Keep Your Judgment: Use the six prompts below to explore and practice, then check the response before acting.
Make It Your Own: Your experiences, voice, and values should guide the result. Career Exploration and Success (CES) can help you decide what comes next.

You do not need to become an artificial intelligence (AI) expert to begin. Start with a question you already have: Which careers fit my interests? How can I explain my experience? What should I ask an employer? A useful AI session ends with a decision or next step you understand—not simply more generated text.

Start Here: One Tool, One Task

Choose your tool. Rutgers offers Microsoft Copilot Chat, Google Gemini, and Gemini Notebook at no additional cost. Use the university access instructions on Artificial Intelligence at Rutgers; a personal account may have different protections. Check the linked data-classification guidance before uploading information.
Choose one exercise below. Replace the brackets with non-sensitive details. You can use a fictional example while learning. A prompt is simply the instruction or question you give the tool.
Check and revise. Compare the answer with your experience and reliable sources. Ask what is uncertain, correct mistakes, and discard suggestions that do not fit.
Take one real-world step. Revise a paragraph yourself, contact a professional, compare actual postings, or bring your questions to a career adviser.

Before You Paste Anything

Follow Rutgers AI guidance and the rules for your workplace, application, or assessment. Remove contact details and identifying information from practice materials. Do not upload confidential employer information, another person's data, or restricted research without authorization for that tool and use. University access is not blanket permission to share sensitive information.

Check whether an employer permits AI assistance, especially for assessments and live interviews. Never invent experience, credentials, or results. Verify factual claims using the original source; a confident answer or a convincing citation can still be wrong. If a direct search, your own writing, or a conversation will do the job better, choose that approach.

Six Career Exercises to Try

These prompts are starting points, not guarantees of accurate or complete answers. Copy one, replace the bracketed text, and use the check beneath it. You remain responsible for anything you submit or use.

1. Explore Career Possibilities

Bring: A short list of interests, skills you enjoy using, and work preferences.

I am exploring careers. My interests are [interests], skills I enjoy using are [skills], and work preferences are [preferences]. Ask me up to three clarifying questions, one at a time. Then suggest three roles to research, explain the connection to my information, and identify one uncertainty about each. Treat these as possibilities, not a prediction of my ideal career. Do not invent salary or job-growth figures.

Check and act: Compare the roles with actual postings and O*NET OnLine, the Occupational Information Network. Identify one professional to ask about daily work. A CES adviser can help interpret options when your interests or constraints conflict.

2. Research an Employer and Your Values

Bring: Public excerpts from an employer's careers page or responsibility report, including their dates.

My workplace priorities are [priorities]. Using only these public excerpts [paste excerpts and dates], separate the employer's stated commitments from specific evidence of action. Identify missing information and write four respectful questions I could ask a recruiter. Do not infer performance from a slogan or treat missing information as proof of wrongdoing.

Check and act: Open the original pages and look for measurable actions, dates, and independent evidence. Ask the recruiter about gaps. Our AI and Your Values guide can help you weigh the answers; an adviser can help you consider tradeoffs.

3. Strengthen an Application

Bring: A public job description and a short draft with personal details removed.

Compare this draft [paste draft] with this job description [paste description]. Identify three places where I could explain relevant experience more clearly. Ask questions where evidence is missing. Do not rewrite the draft yet, add skills, invent numbers, or imply experience I have not provided.

Check and act: Confirm every claim against what you actually did. Rewrite the selected passages in your own voice and follow the employer's AI-use instructions. Ask CES for feedback if you are unsure whether the wording accurately represents your contribution.

From AI Suggestion to an Honest Resume Bullet

The following fictional example shows why your judgment matters. A student helped register guests at two campus events and answered questions at the welcome table. They did not supervise anyone or measure attendance growth.

Their prompt: “Help me describe this experience in one resume bullet. Use only the facts I provide. Do not invent numbers, responsibilities, or results.”

An unreliable AI suggestion might read: “Led a five-person team and increased event attendance by 30% through strategic outreach.” It sounds impressive, but the student’s notes support neither claim. Even a carefully written prompt does not guarantee an accurate answer.

A defensible revision is: “Supported guest registration at two campus events and answered attendee questions at the welcome table.” The student can explain every part of this statement in an interview. If they want a stronger bullet, their next step is to identify real details about their contribution—not ask AI to invent impact.

Before using a suggestion, compare each claim with your notes. Remove unsupported details, restore your own voice, and ask a CES adviser for feedback when needed. The skill you are demonstrating is your ability to evaluate and improve the output.

4. Practice an Interview

Bring: A public job description and an example you can discuss without disclosing confidential details.

Help me practice for [role] using this job description [paste description]. Ask one behavioral question at a time and wait for my answer. Give feedback on clarity, evidence, and my individual contribution. Ask a follow-up question rather than inventing a stronger example. Do not claim these are the employer's actual interview questions.

Check and act: Say your revised answer aloud without reading it. Does it still sound like you, and could you explain every detail? Use a mock interview with a person to practice conversation and follow-up questions. Practice beforehand; do not assume AI assistance is allowed during the interview.

5. Prepare an Offer Conversation

Bring: An anonymized or fictional offer summary and your priorities. Leave out confidential documents.

Help me prepare questions about an offer. The terms I can share are [terms], and my priorities are [priorities]. List unclear terms and draft a short, respectful conversation opener. Separate questions from requests. Do not invent market pay, predict the employer's response, or recommend accepting or rejecting the offer for me.

Check and act: Verify pay comparisons using current sources appropriate to the role and location, and confirm terms directly with the employer. Bring competing priorities or negotiation questions to CES before deciding what to request.

6. Practice a Workplace Task

Bring: A fictional project, such as planning a community event, and a few invented constraints.

Using this fictional project [scenario, audience, budget, and deadline], draft a one-page action plan. Separate facts I supplied from assumptions. Flag missing information, accessibility considerations, and decisions that require human approval. Do not invent stakeholder agreement. Finish with three checks I should perform before using the plan.

Check and act: Test the timeline and budget, review who might be excluded, and explain what you changed and why. For workplace use, confirm your supervisor's expectations and approved tools first. Try additional guided tasks in Handshake AI Skills Studio; check each mission's third-party tool requirements.

Check the Opportunity, Too

AI can help make a fake recruiting message look polished and convincing. Professional wording, a familiar logo, or a realistic voice is not proof that an opportunity is legitimate. Find the organization’s official website independently and confirm the opening or recruiter through an established contact channel. Do not rely only on links or contact details supplied in an unsolicited message.

Pause if someone asks you to pay to secure a job, deposit a check and send money elsewhere, or provide sensitive financial or identity information before you have verified the employer and hiring process. If something feels wrong, stop responding and ask Career Exploration and Success for help. Review Rutgers’ guidance on fraudulent postings before proceeding.

Turn Practice Into Career Readiness

Keep a short record of the task, what the tool suggested, what you checked, and the decisions you made. That gives you evidence to discuss with employers. Our AI Fluency and Career Readiness article explains how this connects to the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE) competencies, including critical thinking, communication, technology, and professionalism.

You can explore AI while questioning its impacts, or choose other approaches entirely. CES supports your career decisions either way. Visit Your Values for employer research and environmental and social-impact career resources, or use AI Career Programs to continue learning with others.

Resources and Further Reading

Last Reviewed: October 16, 2026.

About This Article: Developed by Rutgers Career Exploration and Success with support from artificial intelligence (AI) tools